Lipids are indispensable ingredients in the food and cosmetics industries, and they are important precursors in the biodiesel and biochemical industries. Many oleaginous microorganisms produce lipids, including the well-characterized yeast Yarnnwia lipolytica. 
Arxula adeninivorans (Blastobotrys adeninivorans) is an oleaginous yeast that is less well characterized than Y. lipolytica. In fact, currently, there are no industrial A. adeninivorans-based processes, perhaps because Arxula adeninivorans is a yeast with a number of unusual characteristics. It is dimorphic and can utilize a wide range of substrates as sources of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and energy, including starch, xylose, acetic acid, ethanol, arabinose, cellobiose, phytic acid, adenine, xanthine, uric acid, putrescine, and n-alkylamines. A. adeninivorans is also nitrate-assimilating and thermo- and osmo-tolerant. A distinctive feature is its ability to grow efficiently at 37′C, and a temperature-dependent dimorphism with mycelial structures formed at temperatures above 42′C.